Consumers seek to maximize the use of their time. Electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) mobile telephones and other Internet connectivity devices (“mobile stations”) provide users with mobile access to information resources. For instance, a user may be traveling along a highway, waiting for a train or plane, etc., and may be able to communicate with online resources, institutions, and other users at the click of a button.
The growing number of mobile devices and increased use of text-based messaging in society (e.g., short messaging service (SMS), instant messaging (IM) chat, etc.) and the decreased use of voice to conduct transactions, creates an increased demand to provide text-based services. For example, users need to perform increasingly efficient and effective text-based transactions between consumers and automated communication systems, such as, contact centers and contact center agents. Also, contact centers need to increase their own productivity. Natural language processing and word parsing technology makes it easier for a call center agent to handle multiple transactions at one time.
In addition to the increased availability of a mobile station, certain communication protocols and procedures are becoming increasingly popular and easy to implement, such as, text messaging, which may use short messaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), instant messaging (IM) and/or any other free format text application. However, performing substantive and important transactions, such as, transferring money, paying bills, etc., requires some level of authentication and preauthorization.